APRA focuses on increasing transparency in latest move

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has proposed publishing a greater breadth of industry-aggregate data for the general insurance (GI) and life insurance (LI) sectors as part of its strategic priority to increase transparency.

APRA said it wants to determine all class of business data for GI and all product group data for LI as non-confidential, unless sensitive commercial reasons are determined, in order to promote:

• competition, contestability, and efficiency in the financial system; 
• innovative uses of data;
• greater consumer understanding and more informed public discussion of insurance-related issues; and
• informed decision-making for all market participants, consultants, analysts, and other users of the GI and LI statistical publications. 

The prudential regulator also proposed to disclose explanations from individual GIs and LIs in relation to material revisions to or large movements in their data.

The industry aggregate data to be determined as non-confidential will be included in the Quarterly General Insurance Performance Statistics (QGIPS), the Annual General Insurance Claims Development Statistics (AGICDS), the Quarterly Life Insurance Performance Statistics (QLIPS), and the Life Insurance Supplementary Statistical Tables (LISST) from the second half of 2020. 

The six-week consultation is open until March 20. Visit the APRA website for copies of the consultation letter.